Dark And Dangerous Read Free Page B

caught up." She
looked around and noticed the Sun was riding high.
    "What time is
it?"
      "It's nearly noon." Nathan grinned.
She had paint smeared over her left cheek. It looked ridiculously cute.
      "Oh, I guess I lost track of time."
Slightly disoriented she looked up at him. "What are you doing here? We
didn't have an appointment, did we?" she asked, trying to remember if she
had forgotten anything.
      "I said I would contact you, when I had
talked to Yasmin." It had taken some doing to convince her. "I have.
So I was thinking if you weren't too busy, I could show you the resort, and we
could talk shop."
      "Okay. Um, I'll just clean this up and
then change clothes, if that's okay?"  
      "It's perfect. Though don't change your
clothes on my account." She was wearing an old once blue T-shirt and an
old pair of jeans. He found it strangely alluring.
      "Let me get that." He lifted the
painting before she could grab it, and hefting the easel, started towards the
cottage. Quickly, she grabbed the only things he had left for her to carry, her
paint and brushes. She caught up with him as he reached the porch.
      "It's this way." Kayley led him
through her small sparsely decorated living slash dining room, and into the
small second bedroom she had dedicated to her workroom. There were a few
paintings stacked along one wall and a big table holding paintbrushes, paint
and a few other objects he had no idea what was.
      "If you would set it down there, please.
Thank you." She quickly laid down the paint and brushes. "I'll just
go change."
      Nathan watched her hurry out and wandered
over to study her paintings. She was good. Really good. Of course he already
knew that. Not only had he seen it for himself, but Yasmin had barely talked
about anything else for the last couple of months.
      These were pictures of landscapes. Some of
the Californian coastline, he could see, and she had depicted them with
stunning accuracy. Another showed Ireland on a warm sunny day, and yet another
an Arizona desert with a heavy storm brewing on the horizon. He was caught up
in them, and didn't even hear her when she came back in.
      "I'm ready."
      He turned around. She was wearing black
slacks and a simple baby blue blouse. And managed to look elegant and edible,
at the same time. "Let's get going then."
      Just as they reached the front door, they
heard a car drive up.
      "Expecting company?" he asked.
      "No."  
    Nathan opened the door, as
a delivery guy came around his truck.
      "Package for a Kayley Hamilton."
      "That would be me."
      "Just sign here. Thank you." He
handed over the package and got back in his truck.
    She barely glanced at the
small box before placing it on her kitchen counter. "I'll open it later, "   she told
Nathan and locked her front door. She climbed into his car as he held the door
for her.
      "Did you call the tow truck?"
Nathan asked when he started the car, and drove deftly along the dirt road.
      "Yes, I did. He will call me back when
he's found the cause of the problem."  
      "Good." He turned onto the main
road.
        "How many resorts are there in
Monterey?" Kayley asked, wondering.
      "There are a few resorts, quite a few
large hotels, and a large number of smaller hotels and inn's ."
      "So you have big competition."
    He smiled at her.
"Yes, but we do okay. Our resort is one of the first larger
establishments, and we have expanded a few times since then."
      "I read somewhere that the hotel
industry is one of the hardest. Is that true?" Kayley asked.
      "Personally, I don't think you can
really say that one business is harder than another. In my experience it's all
about knowing what people want, and in the hotel business, people mostly always
wish for the same things. They just want to relax and be pampered, without
having to think about the stress of their daily life's ."
      She was surprised at how easy he was to talk
to, as they drove. She had never been much of a people person,